Essentials: Tools for Setting & Achieving Goals Dr. Emily Balcetis

In this Huberman Lab Essentials episode, my guest is Dr. Emily Balcetis, PhD, a professor of psychology at New York University who studies how visual perception influences motivation and goal pursuit. She explains how to better visualize and overcome challenges to achieve physical or cognitive goals. We also explore the science of setting goals, measuring progress effectively and research showing how fitness level and energy state can shape how difficult the world appears. Read the episode show notes at hubermanlab.com. Thank you to our sponsors AG1: Eight Sleep: BetterHelp: Timestamps (00:00:00) Emily Balcetis (00:00:21) Adjusting Vision to Meet Goals, Exercise, Tool: Narrow Visual Target (00:07:39) Sponsor: Eight Sleep (00:08:57) Goal Setting, Do Vision Boards Work? (00:12:34) Tool: Effectively Plan Goals, Plan for Obstacles (00:17:58) Sponsor: AG1 (00:19:23) How Fitness Shapes the Way People See the World (00:24:46) Visual Spotlight, Exercise & Physical Fitness Level (00:25:45) Stimulants & Motivation (00:27:06) Sponsor: BetterHelp (00:28:20) Cognitive Goals, Tools: Overcoming Bad Memories; Deadlines (00:35:31) Acknowledgements Disclaimer & Disclosures Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Essentials: Tools for Setting & Achieving Goals Dr. Emily Balcetis is an episode from Huberman Lab by Scicomm Media.

This episode is 36:13 long.

This episode was published on Mar 19, 2026.

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